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McClave's T.J. Trujillo (left) and Shining Mountain's Andrew Bremmer fight for a rebound during the Class 1A boys championship game on Saturday, March 16 at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield. The game featured a showdown of two of the top state-ranked teams in Class 1A all season. The No. 2 ranked McClave handled the No. 1 ranked Lions, 60-40, as the Cardinal's captured the first-ever boys state championship in the school's history.

Marty Miller/Courtesy Photo

The McClave Cardinals basketball team celebrates with the Class 1A state championship trophy after defeating Shining Mountain, 60-40, on Saturday, March 14 at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield. McClave capped their sterling season with a 24-2 record to claim the first boys state championship in the school's history. Team members: front row, l-r, Troy Miller, Gabe Salazar, Taylor Geisinger, Dillan Kelley, Gabe Longworth, and Tyler Forgue. Back row, l-r, Zach Zamora, Abel Salazar, Josh Warren, Cody Canfield, Crisstian Juarez, and T.J. Trujillo.

McClave raced to a 31-15 halftime lead with Canfield scoring just two points, then blew away the Lions 12-4 in the third quarter.

Senior Andrew Bremner led Shining Mountain with 27 points and scored 20 of his team’s 23 in the second half.

For McClave head coach Shawn Randel, it was his second championship for boys. He won his first at Eads High School when he guided both the girls and boys to state titles in 2004. His girls team returned to the winner’s circle in 2008.

“It’s a credit to the kids,” praised Randel. “They had a goal in mind and it was kind of neat to see the kind of focus they had. I’ve been preaching that for awhile and they just did a great job.”

Both McClave and Shining Mountain came out tight at the start of the game as the score remained 0-0 after the first three minutes of play.

Baskets from Gabe Longworth and Dillan Kelley got the Cardinals on the board, and from there the rout was on.

McClave led 13-4 after the first quarter when Canfield took over in the second.

Behind the scoring of Canfield and their tenacious, trapping defense to create turnovers, the Cardinals continued to run build their lead.

Shining Mountain had several good looks but the Lions just picked a bad night to have off shooting.

Leading 24-15 with 3:07 remaining in the first half, McClave scored the final seven points of the quarter to grab a commanding 31-15 lead at halftime.

Canfield’s line in the first half looked like great stats for a full game, as the tournament MVP had 15 points, six rebounds, and two blocks.

Shining Mountain remained cold as the second half opened.

Canfield hit another shot with 44 second left in the third period to give his team a 43-19 advantage as Cardinal’ fans were going wild.

Longworth had a nice quarter as well, scoring nine points in the period.

The only negative for McClave was when Canfield drew his fourth foul on an offensive charge with 6:17 remaining in the game.

Coach Randel decided to gamble and left Canfield in the game. The dominating senior fouled out one minute later with 5:08 remaining and the Cardinals ahead 47-26.

Shining Mountain would cut the deficit down to 14 points but missed four consecutive free throws for a chance to lower the lead to 10.

From that point, the Lions were forced to foul on every possession.

McClave did a good job at the free throw line and increasing its lead back up to 20 points.

Kelly, T.J. Trujillo, Longworth, and Taylor Geisinger all hit free throws in a constant march to the charity stripe.

Canfield finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocked shots. He got good support from both Longworth and Trujillo. Longworth finished with 17 points as well, including three from the three-point line, while Trujillo added 11 points.

Randel said he made a change in the game plan against the Lions.

“They had a nice offensive scheme against Caliche’s man-to-man pressure,” said Randel. “My brother-in-law had seen Shining Mountain play a couple of times. He talked about Denver Jewish putting a zone defense on them that really bothered them. We ran a 2-3 zone on them to be honest that we hadn’t ran but about two or three times all year. It sure limited what they could do. It worked out a lot better than I thought. Still, our kids played well and they weren’t going to be denied. It was pretty fun to watch.”

In McClave’s run to the championship, the Cardinals won all three of their games at state by a 10-point plus margin.

McClave blasted Holly, 63-45, in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Canfield had 38 points, 13 rebounds, five blocked shots, and one dunk.

“Cody set the tone,” said Randel about his performance against Holly. “Holly came out and tried to guard with a straight man defense. That caused our guards some fits, but one thing it did do is leave Cody one-on-one.”

The game was close in the first half with McClave holding a 20-15 lead when Vail Christian reeled of nine unanswered points to take the lead 24-20.

The Cardinals countered with four points to tie the game at 24-all at halftime.

McClave took control of the game in the third quarter as they outscored the Saints, 17-4, to build a 13-point lead at 41-28 lead. Canfield, who finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, had 11 points in the third quarter.

“Vail Christian played us kind of like what Granada did against us,” explained Randel. “But once we got familiar with it, we did a pretty good job of getting the ball inside to Cody where he could catch the ball and score. Taylor (Geisinger) also did a good job coming off the bench and hitting a couple of big three’s for us and got us over the edge.”

To see his seniors (Canfield, Dillan Kelley, Troy Miller, and Zach Zamora) go out with a state championship after four years of hard work was a testament to their work ethic.

“The pieces all came together,” said Randel. “You’ve got to have a few breaks and get a little lucky. You have to appreciate it when it comes because it doesn’t come all that often. It was nice to see the kids achieve their goal. I was concerned how they would adjust to the state tournament atmosphere for being there the first time. They did a good job and handled the task at hand. It was fun and group of kids that I’ve been around for a while. It was fun to see it all pay off.”